2006/06/30 by David Weld, D. M. Weld, A. Kapitulnik · 1 citation
Chemistry · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced MEMS and NEMS Technologies #Cantilever #Chemistry #Composite material #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications #Laser #Materials science #Mechanical and Optical Resonators #Momentum (technical analysis) #Optics #Optoelectronics #Phase (matter) #Photon #Physics #Position (finance) #Radiation #Radiation pressure #Spring (device) #Thermodynamics #cond-mat.other
paper · pdf · doi:10.1063/1.2362598
10 pages, 3 figures. Updated acknowledgements and used smaller file format for Figure 1
arxiv created 2006/07/14 · openalex publication_date 2006/10/16 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The authors describe a simple method for feedback regulation of the response of a microcantilever using the radiation pressure of a laser. A modified fiber-optic interferometer uses one laser to read out the position of the cantilever and another laser of a different wavelength to apply a force that is a phase-shifted function of that position. The method does not require a high-finesse cavity, and the feedback force is due solely to the momentum of the photons in the second laser. The feedback phase can be adjusted to increase or decrease the microcantilever’s effective quality factor Qeff and effective temperature Teff. The authors demonstrate a reduction of both Qeff and Teff of a silicon nitride microcantilever by more than a factor of 15 using a root-mean-square optical power variation of ∼2μW. Additionally, the authors suggest a method for determination of the spring constant of a cantilever using the known force exerted on it by radiation pressure.